Molecularly imprinted polymers: towards highly selective stationary phases in liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis

Abstract

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic polymers with a predetermined selectivity for a given analyte, or group of structurally related compounds, that make them ideal materials to be used in separation processes. In this sense, it is not surprising that the first applications of MIPs were as tailor-made chiral stationary phases in liquid chromatography. However, peak broadening and tailing, especially of the more retained enantiomers, were observed. Accordingly, this paper gives an overview of the attempts carried out during the recent years to improve the chromatographic performance of MIPs in liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis as well as the more recent applications. We conclude that MIPs are very promising materials to be used as selective stationary phases in chromatography although further developments are necessary in order to fully exploit their potential.

Isotherm charts for material selection and method development with molecularly imprinted polymers and other sorbents

“… HPLC on MIP columns [39,[44][45][46]  Solid phase extraction (SPE or MISPE) [47,48]  Membrane separations [49][50][51]  Sensors [52][53][54]  Binding assays [55][56][57]  Selective removal of low concentration contaminants in industrial or environmental technologies [5,8,9] In all of these applications selective separation or detection are needed. If selectivity between widely different compounds or groups of compounds is required, MIPs are suitable for any of the above tasks.…”

Preparation and Evaluation of Uniform-size (-)-Ephedrine-imprinted Polymeric Microspheres by Multi-step Swelling and Suspension Polymerization

“…Several techniques have been developed to obtain MIPs, and they have been compared or reviewed recently. [12][13][14] So far, most of the MIPs have been prepared in less-polar organic solvents by bulk polymerization techniques. 15 The disadvantage of this method is that the obtained bulk polymer needs to be crushed, ground and sieved to produce HPLC packing particles.…”

Polímeros biomiméticos em química analítica. Parte 1: preparo e aplicações de MIP ("Molecularly Imprinted Polymers") em técnicas de extração e separação

“…Devido a estes fatores, a formação de microesferas na forma de um precipitado é assegurada sem a necessidade de se empregar agentes estabilizantes. Tal como a polimerização por sus- pensão em meio aquoso e em perfluorocarbono, a polimerização por precipitação também produz partículas com tamanhos uniformes (tipicamente com diâmetro ≤ 1 μm) 48,61 . Outro ponto que deve ser destacado refere-se ao maior rendimento da reação (ca de 85%) contra os 50% do método de polimerização em "bulk" 28 .…”